I have been searching the web for my problem, but I think I am on the wrong path:

After rendering a 3D-Animation in single PNGs, I imported these to Premiere, added them to a sequence and exported it. The problem I am getting with all codecs and all container-formats (except QuickTime!): white is rendered grey

- exporting in different container formats and codecs: no results for all windows container file formats: avi, mpeg, H.264 etc.

- only time it works: exporting to quick time container file (works with all codecs!) - so I have the feeling it is not a codec-issue

- using all combination of settings: Maximum Render Quality and Render at Maximum Depth, using PAL or NTSC etc.

So, at least there is a way to export it correctly using Quicktime as the file format. But I need to put this animation in a power point presentation for a presentation, and unfortunateley QuickTime is the only format not supported by PP..

I did this, and guess what - the exported video is again played grey! So I did some more research: uploaded the animation to a webservice and tada: it's white again! So this has nothing to do with my file, but with my computer playback! There must be some setting somewhere that reduces the contrast of movies... what a mess!

- Start a new project with different but similar footage, and export again. Any change?

- Uninstall and reinstall Pr.

- If all this fails, you might need to reinstall your OS, as some of the core video functions may be damaged.

I don't share your feeling about ruling out a codec. CoDec is short for Compression/Decompression. You may be compressing fine, but having issues with decompression, or vice-versa.

Don't know if this will help, but there are options in Quicktime and the WMV component for Mac (which I use) that holds settings for gamma filters, etc. And I wonder if there isn't something similar in the Windows side that you may have inadvertently set, or gotten broken because of a file corruption, preference, etc.

Thank you! I found a detour that worked. Since everything encapsulated in QuickTime MOV format is displayed correctly (also in Windows Media Player), I added WM Player plugin to PP and loaded the QuickTime file with Mpeg4-Codec rendering from premiere. Since I am getting a new laptop in 2 weeks, no need to mess with some deep in-system things that went wrong on this..

Hmm. I do agree that a calibrated external broadcast display is the way to go for accurate QC. But I'm thinking this puzzle isn't a driver, because look again at his screen shot. I presume the white you see behind the grayish still on the left is the Sequence that was exported. And if so, there's a shift all right. One you'd see on any display.

I know its a old thread but I just came up against this but with my new Nvidia card - now I see a few fixes on the internet such as messing arround with the quicktime players settings like the blend and alpha for each individual video :O - awful idea! And also turning off the Direct X direct draw and direct 3D settings in the quicktime player was another fix I saw but does affect smoothness in some situations so again not a good idea.

Finaly I decided to look at the nVidia settings today and if I switch the adjust video colour settings from 'video player settings' to 'NVIDIA settings' theres an advanced tab where you can change the dynamic range from the deefault of limited 16 - 235 to full of 0 - 255 - why this setting is on I dont know but it causes me the exact same problem and in full the whites are white again! Bah!

Thank you so much! At last I understand why QuickTime and VLC showed weird gray instead of white on my Windows & NVIDIA setup. It was super confusing! Indeed the answer was this Dynamic range Full 0-255 at NVIDIA Control Panel -> Video -> Adjust video color settings. Impossible to understand why they would use the limited range as default.